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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29854446">Pride and Piety</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TKcloud9/pseuds/TKcloud9'>TKcloud9</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Voyná i mir | War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Epistolary, Gen, except we're gonna pretend these two knew each other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:55:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,393</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29854446</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TKcloud9/pseuds/TKcloud9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It is a truth universally acknowledged... Princess Marya Bolkonsky and Miss Mary Bennet: two girls whose only crime in life was to be born less pretty, less witty, and less outspoken than their siblings. This is how they met.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Pride and Piety</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I read War and Peace in 2020.... this happened. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>It is a truth universally acknowledged that a child overshadowed by livelier, prettier siblings will invariably attempt to excel at moral piety as a way to distinguish themselves.</p><p>Such was the case for Princess Marya Bolkonsky and Miss Mary Bennet, two girls whose only crime in life was to be born less pretty, less witty, and less outspoken than their siblings.</p><p>This is how they met.</p><p>
  <em>Mary Bennet, Longbourn, 1812</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Princess,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Forgive me for writing as a virtual stranger. I write this letter to send my condolences upon your father's passing. My papa is of an academic disposition and has the Russian news. He saw your father the Count's obituary and remarked that he once had a tutor who spoke of Count B- as a brilliant mind, one whom the tutor (being indisputably ancient) had also tutored. It is through this passing, distant acquaintance that I reach out. It is the duty of one, I feel, as a true Christian, to condole with our fellow man in their time of grief and suffering. I offer these words of comfort:</em>
</p><p>
  <em>(herein follows an excerpt taken from Fordyce's Sermons)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I pray for your peace of mind, also for your country's problems with France.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yours Respectfully,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mary Bennet</em>
</p><p>One may feel it is the ultimate irony that these women, English and Russian, were forced to correspond in French, the language belonging to their common enemy. For yes indeed, the princess replied in kind.</p><p>
  <em>My dear Miss Bennet,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was very kind of you to reach out and I feel in my very soul that it was Providence itself that led you to write to me. I have been feeling so much grief, and your letter came to me like a balm upon the soul. It is very difficult to lose a father and add to that all that has been going on-</em>
</p><p>
  <em>(here she describes their flight from Bleak Hills)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>- and of course my brother, my dear Andrey, of whom we have had no news. I pray war never comes to your country, my dear friend. But I have faith in Him, and He gives me strength, not for myself, but for my dear companions and my dear nephew, little Nikolushka. I only wish that, well, it sounds so selfish, that I had a husband to support me. There is a man- but I shall speak no more of him. He is a soldier, and likely to be killed. Please, I long to know of better times, tell me about yourself and your family.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Your friend,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Marya</em>
</p><p>By the time Mary received this letter, due to the turmoil on the continent, she was the last of the Miss Bennets, and had the distinction of being the only Miss Bennet in the county.</p><p>
  <em>My dear friend,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I cannot help but feel that in your suffering you are drawing ever closer to our Heavenly Father. One might even feel there is a blessing in these trials...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>(another excerpt from Fordyce's Sermons, painstakingly copied out).</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I have not had such trials in my life. As for better times, my family is not so interesting as all that, but I will describe them. My father owns the Longbourn estate, until such time he passes away, in which case it will go to my cousin, a parson who idolizes his patroness more than the Lord, though his wife is a sensible woman who will see that no harm comes to the estate.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My father is not a sensible man. Clever, perhaps, but indolent. These faults are reflected in his children.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My eldest two sisters both resolved to marry for nothing but love, which is entirely nonsensical, but they had the good sense to fall in love with wealthy gentleman. I cannot fault them for that. My two younger sisters fell in love with the idea of love, and attached themselves to the first man willing to marry them: my youngest to a soldier. My second-youngest to a third son who is nonetheless of good family.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I do not care to enter into the state of matrimony unless I find a God-fearing man who shows devotion through action, not merely words. This vexes my mother, whose goal in life is to have all her children married. You see, in this way I provide an essential service. If I were to be married and depart Longbourn, she would turn her attentions solely to demanding endless grandchildren. Not that that stops her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The highlight of my year is when my aunt and uncle bring me to London and I may browse the shops for new music and new books. So you see, we are not as exciting as all that.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I pray that your trials soon end, and that you find consolation in the Holy Word.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Your friend,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>M</em>
</p><p>This letter made it to a postal office in Austria while the winter of 1812 raged in its bitter storms and prevented all mail from crossing any border. At some point in early 1813, before the snow thawed, a letter from the princess ended up in this same post office, bound for London. The two letters sat only ten feet away from each other, thus increasing the suspense of their respective recipients, until the spring.</p><p>The princess' letter went something like this:</p><p>
  <em>My dear Miss Bennet, she of the singular Miss, singular Bennet,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Our countries are so far away from each other that by the time news arrives, we have more news to share! I am engaged to be married, my friend! I pray that I will always be this happy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The soldier whom I spoke of in a previous letter returned to me, and asked for my hand. I am so fortunate to be able to accept him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Of course, life is not without its trials. My dearest brother Andrey has passed away into God's keeping. I was with him when he died, and I felt in his passing such a divine interference... when he left us, it was with such a look in his eyes, he knew where he was destined and it was to no earthly residence.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I was fortunate indeed to be with the Rostovs (that is the name of my betrothed), and they have cared for me and little Nikolushka marvelously. My dear Nikolay's sister (my betrothed, not my nephew), Natasha, was engaged for a time to Andrey, so of course we are like sisters. She is engaged to a dear friend of Andrey's, and they will soon be married as well.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yes, my dear friend, God has smiled upon us. And of course I feel it incumbent upon me to advise you, my dear Mary, do find a good husband, one whose spirit and nobility is at least equal to my dear Nikolay (my betrothed, not my nephew though he is a dear boy).</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Your ecstatic friend,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>soon to be Marya Rostov</em>
</p><p>We shall not dwell on the temporary bitterness that suffused Miss Mary Bennet's spirits upon hearing that a kindred spirit had also fallen to the ideal of love. "A soldier," she wept bitterly, into her copy of Fordyce's Sermons. "Like some Gothic novel, rescued by a soldier..." There may have been a sigh of girlish longing - only the much-abused copy of Fordyce could tell us, and it will keep its own counsel.</p><p>Miss Bennet soon recovered her practical bent; her letter of congratulations was littered with maxims upon respect and compromise.</p><p>Two weeks after she'd sent her letter, Miss Bennet met the new curate. <em>"Oh dear,"</em> she thought to herself, as the curate asked her opinion on education tenant's children, <em>"I may have to write Marya with some news myself."</em></p><p>Six months later, she did indeed, and signed it <em>soon to be Mary Dale</em>.</p><p>The letters trickled to a stop, as they oft tend to do between married women, whose time is taken up by spouse, children, mothers-in-law, house affairs, and charity towards those less fortunate.</p><p>They considered themselves friends for life, nonetheless.</p><p>A sidenote: Mrs. Mary Dale did manage to strike Lady Catherine de Bourgh to silence at Pemberley for a full three minutes, when she casually mentioned one Michaelmas, "My particular friend, the Princess Bolkonsky, you remember her, Lizzy?" One may speculate how the shades of Pemberley felt about being in such august company - Lady Catherine did not know any princesses, Russian or otherwise.</p><p>-<em>Fin -</em></p>
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